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Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria President Loses Parliament Majority after 37 MPs Defect
2013-12-19
[An Nahar] Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
lost his majority in parliament on Wednesday after 37 politicians bolted his party for a new opposition coalition, the latest political blow to hit the embattled leader.

In a letter presented to the speaker of the lower house, the politicians elected under Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declared that they had joined the All Progressives Congress, stripping the PDP of its majority in 360-seat chamber.

They listed "divisions in the political party (PDP) that sponsored our election" as the reason for the move.

The PDP had controlled the lower house since the end of military rule in 1999, but was left with just 171 politicians after Wednesday's announcement.

Jonathan has been hemorrhaging support in recent weeks, including the defection of five powerful state governors to the APC last month.

Publicly, the president's rivals have said his political troubles are tied to poor job performance, but analysts argue the real divisions are linked to Nigeria's 2015 polls.

Jonathan is widely expected to seek re-election, but has faced mounting calls to stand aside.

He has been accused of breaking an unwritten rule in the PDP which calls for the presidency to rotate between Christians from the south, like Jonathan, and Musselmens from the north.
Posted by:Fred

#1  Goodluck, Jonathan.

(I mean it.)
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra   2013-12-19 15:49  

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